That which is scarce is precious. That which is abundant has little value. More or less, these are the lessons of life. Sales organizations go through the CRM selection process with great diligence. They spend even more resources redesigning existing processes, integrating the technology and people, training and rolling out the shiny new thing with great fanfare. Making sure every sales person is empowered. Yet adoption remains at an abysmal level by measures beyond logins, “clicking on plays” and “call blocks.” Why? Here are three most cited reasons aggregated from numerous research: It is delivered primarily as a technical tool, relegating the human element. It is perceived as management pushing something from above. It is not believed to generate more value: sales, profits, targets. In other words, it is not adding value to the life of the sales person. One sales leader I know used to say, “if you don’t know the value of what you’re doing, then stop doing it. You will find out.” Yes, we are asking you to consider the opposite of what every expert says, everything you have heard, and even what we’ve said on these pages – stop doing SFA – if you are not sure of …Read More
The Evolution of Sales Force Automation
It’s no secret that sales force automation (SFA) was dreaded not too long back, but has now become an indispensable friend to the sales person. There are many who may still be leery of it, but that number is certainly dwindling. Lauren Carlson’s blog at Software Advice reflects on this sales force automation evolution over the past 15 years, and identifies four factors that explain the change. While we agree with those, here’s our take on where this is headed. The central theme as we see it (of course being a SaaS company ourselves) is 1) the deployment of SFA on SaaS platforms and 2) SFA is more inter-operable in a sales environment. And that is a great fit to how the best sales people think and act: sales is seen in the larger context of client and business needs. So while software engineering has taken great leaps forward with usability, content and inter-operability, it has made it easier rather than harder for sales reps to use these tools. Let us now envision what the future holds in terms of increasing adoption and further making SFA an indispensable tool for the reps of today and tomorrow. SIMPLIFY, SIMPLIFY, SIMPLIFY: Thanks to Amazon, Google, Apple and iPhones, and other innovators, we now live …Read More
Top CRM Trends to Watch in 2012
Our CRM trends to watch in 2011 were among the most-read words here, all year. Now let’s look forward to what’s in store for sales and marketing data in 2012 … FUSION OF SFA WITH EMA = TRUE CRM: With continuing innovation, sales force automation systems (SFA) have been transformed into a sales rep’s best friend, as discussed in an insightful blog post at Software Advice: easier implementation, data accessibility and now the benefits of analytics and marketing automation are aiding the success of sales teams using these systems. The success of CRM and Marketing Automation is no secret. More B2B organizations will take advantage of this profitable alliance to create a true lead generation life cycle platform, so that the handoffs throughout the prospect -> lead -> nurture -> sale pipeline will become more seamless and accountable. To accomplish this, data, analytics and best practices will play an integral part in relevant communication. (Also see our slide presentation, “What CRM was supposed to be.”) MORE PRODUCTIVE CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS: The customer value equation will go further so companies and sales teams can generate more revenue and profit from existing customers. This means examining every aspect of customer value, determining where it will come from and coaching/training to empower sales teams with …Read More
How predictive analytics adds value during & after selection of your CRM system – Part 2
Yesterday we posted the first tip of how to use predictive analytics to make your CRM system even more valuable. Today we share several more tips … Retain focus on business objectives The excitement of implementing a tool that solves basic operational problems is understandable. The front-end responsibility of reliability, inter-operability and security is clearly with IT. These challenges are significant. But it is important to go beyond the technology’s bells and whistles. By establishing a vision for analytics – metrics, measurement methods, forward-looking indicators and performance management – and incorporating these in the design, the rationale for the CRM system and its ROI can be validated. Through predictive analytics, business processes can be mapped and modeled, and benchmarks created for delivering quantifiable goals to the enterprise via the CRM system. For example, is the primary objective of your CRM to support lead generation, product penetration or customer retention? Based on your needs, predictive analytics can help develop appropriate forward-looking indicators, expected results and diagnostics of the results at all levels of activity – customer, sales people, products and operational areas. This will allow ongoing correction and calibration of your activity within the CRM system that maintains the focus on the business outcomes, not …Read More
How predictive analytics adds value during & after selection of your CRM system – Part 1
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems are the currency of customer-sales interactions. Effective, simple CRM software helps sales reps to focus on content of conversations rather than the mechanics of conversations, resulting in sales empowerment and productivity gains. A CRM system can be a boon to sales people. CRM helps overcome the technology hurdle of accessing information over disparate systems. CRM systems help improve collaboration within, above and across the entire organization, allowing the company to speak with one voice. And from a governance perspective, these systems help elevate the customer relationship from individual dependencies to an enterprise-wide strategic asset. When you add the potency of predictive analytics, a CRM system can be even more valuable. Leaders in analytics, sales operations and technology can fulfill their obligation towards sales empowerment by creating a cohesive approach that brings these disciplines together. How well we achieve this determines if a CRM system just gains basic acceptance, or whether it is fully adopted and even embraced by sales people who realize its benefits for themselves as well as for their customers. Here are guidelines to help make that happen: Consider a multi-stage deployment In the first stage of CRM implementation, deliver base functionality to the users so that their immediate, tactical pain points are addressed. This often …Read More